They didn't even have a lot of alcohol last night. Upon his insistence, Uriel conducted an impromptu interview and Kim Dokja tried his best to give the dumbest answers ever. And Yoo Joonghyuk thwarted all of his plans by finding some profound meaning in his answers.
And when he got back home, even though he was exhausted, he couldn't fall asleep.
His birthday plans were going to shit as he watched.
It was a Sunday, right. He should have expected his friends to walk into his house earlier than they would have on working days.
"You sure look very alive," Han Sooyoung said sarcastically, trying to find a spot to put her shoes on the floor.
"Did you do anything special yesterday?" Jung Heewon asked.
Oh, he'd forgotten yesterday was Valentine's Day.
"Cold, cold, cold," Lee Jihye jumped around, kicking off her boots and hurrying into the warm apartment. "Hey, Kim Namwoon, close the damn door."
"Mind your words," Yoo Joonghyuk scolded her because the kids were there.
"Passing through," Lee Hyunsung called, holding the cake box above everyone's heads as he wove his way through the crowds and towards Kim Dokja's kitchen.
"Ahjussi!"
"Hyung!"
Yoosung and Gilyoung ran at him the second they were free of their shoes, jackets and scarves. Their little arms clasped around him immediately and Kim Dokja steadied himself before petting their heads with his hands.
It took a while for everyone to enter the house and have the door closed. His apartment looked ready to burst with the sheer amount of people inside.
Kim Dokja stared at the top of Yoo Joonghyuk's head. It seemed the other Yoo Joonghyuk was taller, Kim Dokja remembered him having to duck his head to walk through the door and move out of the way before his head hit the hanging ceiling lamp near the entrance.
Yoo Joonghyuk had to mind the ceiling light, but not the door. He just made the cut by a few centimetres. Lee Hyunsung had to duck though. The other Yoo Joonghyuk didn't seem as tall as Lee Hyunsung though.
"How was the traffic?" Kim Dokja asked. "It snowed early morning today."
"Why do you know that?" Han Sooyoung huffed. "You've been staying up reading shitty novels again."
"I wish," Kim Dokja grumbled.
"Dokja-ssi, where do I put this?"
Kim Dokja turned his attention to the person who had called him and saw Yoo Sangah holding up a neatly folded black scarf.
"Ah, I'll put it aside, Sangah-ssi," Kim Dokja hurried towards the woman and took it gently from her.
"Oh-ho," he could tell from Jung Heewon's voice that she was smirking widely. "That's a new scarf."
"Ahjussi, where did you get that from?" Lee Jihye asked.
"You didn't steal it from someone, did you?" Kim Namwoon said and Yoosung and Gilyoung launched to defend Kim Dokja from Kim Namwoon's accusation.
Kim Dokja spoke as he moved to his bedroom. "Yoo Joonghyuk let me borrow it for the night."
"The other Yoo Joonghyuk?" Jung Heewon asked.
Kim Dokja nodded, then realised that they couldn't see him from outside in the living room and said, "Yeah. It was snowing by the time I left, so he let me borrow his scarf. I'll return it next time."
"He likes you," Lee Jihye said.
"He definitely likes you," Jung Heewon nodded.
"Of course, he does," Kim Dokja said, sounding confused as he left the rather expensive scarf carefully in his little cabinet.
"We're friends."
A lot of people groaned at his words.
"Kim Dokja, you dumbass," Han Sooyoung started, but got cut off by Yoo Joonghyuk clicking his tongue in disapproval. She shouldn't swear while the kids were around.
"Who arranged yesterday's meeting, Dokja-ssi?" Lee Seolhwa said pleasantly.
"He did."
"On Valentine's Day? What d'you think that means?" Jung Heewon drawled, a hand under her chin, frowning thoughtfully. "Oh, what could it ever be?"
Yoo Sangah and Jang Hayoung giggled.
"It wasn't a date," Kim Dokja said dryly. "We had his friend joining us too."
"Threesome?!" Han Sooyoung gasped.
"What?!" Kim Dokja cried, appalled.
Yoo Joonghyuk brought his fist down on Han Sooyoung's head, glaring at her as Mia tugged his sleeve and asked, "Oppa, what's a threesome?"
"What is wrong with you?" Jung Heewon hissed at Han Sooyoung who was groaning in pain, massaging the back of her head.
"It wasn't a date," Kim Dokja said loudly, hoping to distract them from it, especially the kids. They didn't have to know what a threesome was at such a young age.
"We were just doing the usual. A few drinks, karaoke and then Yoo Joonghyuk called a ride for me, 'cause all three of us hammered, not in a condition to drive and I came home."
That was a mix of lies and truth. They barely had a few drinks, most of it being coffee, Yoo Joonghyuk insisted on dropping him off, but Kim Dokja told him he could call a taxi and before he could do so, Uriel had booked a ride for him and both boss and secretary looked extremely smug to have outsmarted Kim Dokja.
Yoo Joonghyuk said it was cold outside and wrapped a scarf around his neck at the door when he saw him off. Kim Dokja had taken it off the second he got home and neatly folded it up, not wanting to ruin it more than he already had. It was a very nice, probably very expensive scarf.
"Well, at least we know it's a real person now," said Lee Jihye. "Imaginary people can't give scarves."
"Unless he stole it from somewhere and is just hallucinating that this Yoo Joonghyuk guy gave it to him," Kim Namwoon piped up and Kim Dokja heard a light smack, he couldn't be sure who, but someone had hit Kim Namwoon and he was very thankful for that person.
"He's not fictional," Kim Dokja rolled his eyes.
They got the cake out, made Kim Dokja sit on his sofa, put the cake on the tiny coffee table and stood around in the living room, singing him a birthday song.
There was a mismatched chorus, all different pitches and different tunes and Kim Dokja couldn't help but think of him singing Yoo Joonghyuk a birthday song on his birthday. It had been so embarrassing, it was just him singing and clapping. Uriel had a deadpan look on her face and if it wasn't for Yoo Joonghyuk's eager expression, Kim Dokja would never have done that.
It was a potluck of sorts. Everyone brought their own plates and glasses and cutlery. Kim Dokja didn't have enough utensils for twelve people. They barely fit in his house, but over the years they had managed to find spots they settled in.
Yoosung and Gilyoung were arguing about who wished Kim Dokja a happy birthday first and Kim Namwoon just had to go and ruin it saying that the adults who had phones and could wake up at whatever time they wanted had already wished Kim Dokja at midnight.
It was true, Han Sooyoung did send him a text on the dot, when it struck midnight. She always did that.
Kim Dokja didn't read the message until hours later though, because he was busy with Yoo Joonghyuk and Uriel. In a way, Yoo Joonghyuk was the first one to wish him a happy birthday, followed closely by Uriel who smothered him in hugs.
"You look like something's troubling you, Dokja-ssi," Yoo Sangah said from beside him and Kim Dokja gave a smile.
"I was just thinking, Sangah-ssi," he said.
"Lay it on us," said Han Sooyoung from the floor. "We'll give you advice."
"Advice? What advice?" Jung Heewon turned her attention to the chat they were having.
"I'll do my best to help you, Kim Dokja-ssi," Jang Hayoung nodded.
And eventually, everyone was listening to Kim Dokja's problem.
"Well," Kim Dokja started awkwardly. "I got a job offer. . .Of sorts. But it's a bit weird."
"Is it an escort job?" Han Sooyoung said sharply.
"No, normal office work," Kim Dokja shook his head and the others relaxed. "But it's a role I've never done before."
"Which role, Dokja-ssi?" Yoo Sangah asked.
"Project manager," Kim Dokja muttered. "I've never really... managed any projects. I was trying to decide if I should accept or not."
"Of course, you have to accept," Jung Heewon said.
"I'm not qualified though."
"That's on them," scoffed Han Sooyoung. "If they offered the job to you, that's their problem if you do a shit job at it or not. Just say yes."
"Go for it," Yoo Joonghyuk nodded.
"I mean, I didn't even give a proper interview for it," Kim Dokja confessed. "The main boss sort of took a liking to me after we spoke for a while and gave me a job. Which makes it sort of nepotism, right?"
"Dokja-ssi, I'm sure it's different," said Yoo Sangah. "Nepotism is more Department Head Han."
"It's still favouritism, no?"
"No," said Han Sooyoung. "What did you even do to this main boss to get him to like you?"
"I sort of gave him an idea," Kim Dokja rubbed the back of his neck. "I was, you remember that exhibition thing I went to last year? And I saw some VR display, so I was just blabbing nonsense and he didn't think it was nonsense."
"You have been very interested in VR these days, Dokja-ssi," Lee Hyunsung said. "I think he saw your passion in the subject."
Said passion was only because that man had planted a little thought in his head. Otherwise, Kim Dokja didn't give a shit about VR or anything for that matter.
"You did say that the VR one was the most interesting in the exhibition," Jang Hayoung piped up.
"Is that why you haven't been reading web novels?" Han Sooyoung smirked. "Reading stuff for nerds instead?"
"It was research," Kim Dokja huffed. "And I was just curious."
"Dokja-ssi, you should take the offer," Lee Seolhwa said.
"Yeah, it seems like it interests you and if you already have a higher ups' liking, why wouldn't you take the job?" said Jung Heewon.
"Which company is it, Dokja-ssi?" Yoo Sangah asked.
"Um, I'm not sure if you heard of it," Kim Dokja took his phone out to find it on the internet. "It's called N'gai Enterprises, I think."
"What the hell?" Kim Namwoon snapped, finally deciding to talk now that the adults were done discussing. "Not sure if we've heard of it? Every damn person knows about it."
Kim Dokja looked up from his phone.
"Really?"
Everyone nodded.
"I've seen it on TV before," Yoosung said.
"That ad with that pretty Unnie, no?" said Mia and hummed a jingle to which Yoosung nodded excitedly.
Kim Dokja blinked.
"Hey," Han Sooyoung said slowly. "Did you not know that this thing existed?"
"I saw it, I knew it existed—You know I don't watch TV!" Kim Dokja cried, trying to save his dignity. "I wouldn't have known about the ads."
"They have huge posters everywhere," Jung Heewon droned.
"I've seen them at the subway stations too," Jang Hayoung provided.
"Well, I was reading—I wasn't looking at advertisements," Kim Dokja tried, feeling his blood rush to his face.
"Uh-huh," Han Sooyoung nodded slowly with a wide smirk on her face. "Hey, Kim Dokja, did you act like you didn't know about the company in front of that big boss guy?"
Kim Dokja recollected the first time he had met Yoo Joonghyuk and the reason why Yoo Joonghyuk looked at him like he was being ridiculous when he said that he'd heard his company name somewhere before.
Kim Dokja rarely paid attention to these things. And even if he heard stuff, unless it was considered important at his workplace, he didn't bother retaining it. He simply forgot about it as time went on.
He generally worked in call centres and quality assurance, he wasn't in a high enough position to hear about stuff anyway. And he didn't watch any TV or ads, he mostly skipped them on the internet and his hobby was reading web novels on the way home, all the posters and displays he saw were basically just landmarks in his head, never having paid them more attention than to help him find his way around the city.
Kim Dokja had looked at the N'Gai website and treated it like any other website. He knew it was big, he just didn't know it was a household name. He should have paid more attention to it, fuck.
It didn't necessarily change anything, but the fact that it was a common name that all of his friends, the kids included knew of it was a little unsettling. Was he getting into something very troublesome? Should he do this?
"Ahjussi, what the hell?" Lee Jihye snorted. Yoo Joonghyuk face-palmed while Yoo Sangah and Lee Seolhwa tried their best not to laugh at Kim Dokja. The others were already giggling and snickering about it.
"Wow," Han Sooyoung guffawed, reading his thoughts from his expression. "Hey, hey, don't think of not taking the offer because of this, yeah?"
Kim Dokja got teased to hell and back for it and he wondered if he should go apologise to Yoo Joonghyuk about it. Then he decided not to, it could make things very awkward.
But technically, he was getting a position because of nepotism.
"Hey, since when has life been fair?" Han Sooyoung had said to his thought. "There are tons of useless people getting high ranks because they're nepobabies. Better you than them."
"What rumours?" Yoo Joonghyuk had scoffed. "You've never had rumours about you before? Stop trying to find excuses, lazy."
"Dokja-ssi, I think it's your time," Lee Hyunsung had cheered him on. "You should go for it."
"Hey, you might have horrible luck with romance," said Jung Heewon. "But you have excellent luck when it comes to people. I mean, look at all of us, yeah?"
That was true. While Kim Dokja's luck with romance was shit, he always found exceptionally good people. All his friends were examples of it. Yoo Joonghyuk and Uriel were proof of it as well.
The number of times he met with Yoo Joonghyuk increased. Hardly two days after his birthday, Uriel brought an actual contract for him to sign and Kim Dokja tried slinking away from it, putting it off for later.
So Yoo Joonghyuk cornered him and gave him a ginormous ring binder, asking him to read it and told him to ask him if he had any doubts.
Kim Dokja didn't bother Yoo Joonghyuk but asked the internet when he had doubts. Yoo Joonghyuk, however, didn't like this very much. Yoo Joonghyuk demanded that he quit a few of his jobs because it was company policy that he just made up.
"Well, guess I'm not going to work for your company then," Kim Dokja had huffed.
How this turned into his things ending up in Yoo Joonghyuk's penthouse was lost on him.
Kim Dokja often stared at the ceiling, wondering how his life had come to this.
Huh? What? Why? How?!
It was Yoo Joonghyuk and Uriel's fault, he concluded. They said that because of Kim Dokja's long shifts and busy day schedule, he wouldn't have a lot of time to go through the material he was asked to.
So, they said he should just come to Yoo Joonghyuk's place every three days and they could go over it together. He could bring some of his clothes and spend the night there because the commute was just a waste of time.
And before Kim Dokja could even go through all the pros and cons of this, Uriel had gathered his stuff, dumped it into his duffle bag, shoved him into her car along with his bag and drove off.